Nonautonomous Vortices in (2+1)-Dimensional Graded-Index Waveguide

Abstract

Abstract With the help of self-similarity transformation, we construct and study the nonautonomous vortices with different topological charges inside a planar graded-index nonlinear waveguide, analytically, and numerically. Although these vortices are approximate, they can reflect the real properties of self-similar optical beam during a short-term propagation. Existence of these autonomous vortices require delicate balances between the system parameters such as diffraction, nonlinearity, gain, and external potential. We are concerned with some special but interesting situations, and discussing the changes of the height, width, energy, and central position of the vortices as the increase of propagation distance. Moreover, we are also interested in the azimuthal modulational instability of the system, and comparing our prediction for the modulational instability growth rates to numerical results.